Sunday, July 13, 2008

Records Tumble at Siskiyou OutBack

SOB's Start/Finish Line

Skaggs leads King early in the race.

A week out from the Olympic Trials held in Eugene, Oregon, Max King traveled south for some long distance training, or, ah, er, um, racing. But he wasn't alone. In the wind tunnel he formed high along the Pacific Crest Trail near the Oregon/California border, several other runners took advantage of a fast field to post some of the most spectacular racing S.O.B. has ever seen.King pauses for refreshments.

King, 28, set a new course record in 3:42:36. King ran the first half of the race with Ashlander, Erik Skaggs, who also bettered the old course record, set by Erik Solof in 2005, by posting a 3:47:23. Hal Koerner, also of Ashland and the owner of Rogue Valley Runners, turned in a fantastic third place finish, also under the old course record, by crossing the finishing tape below Mount Ashland's summit in 3:58:46.Erik Skaggs, "Where's the ice!"

Women's winner Kami Semick.

In the women's race, Kami Semik,42, of Bend, Oregon, lopped a huge chunk of time off (almost 13 minutes) Meghan Arbogast's course record by finishing sixth overall in 4:11:53. Darla Brader, also of Bend, and Jenn Shelton, of Ashland battled it out for second. Brader out distanced Shelton by six minutes by the end.Jenn Shelton leads Brian McGuire.

In the 15K, Chris McIssac, from Olympia, WA, finished first in under an hour in 59:42. Laura Raber, from Eagle Point, OR finished first in the ladies race and 11th overall in 1:14:10.

Todd Ragsdale follows Eric Poole en route to strong 50K finishes.

Though the smoke from the California fires produced a red-orange sunrise and temperatures in the Rogue Valley reached 100 degrees: runners, race staff and volunteers kept their cool. 116 runners finished the 50K and 149 finished the 15K edition. Congratulations to all!Follow the Train!"Too Fast" Aria Hemphill in the 15K.